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| My mom, back in the day. She was a looker! |
Because I posted about my neighbor Kathy, I feel I should post one of my mom’s famous recipes. She may not have loved to cook, but when she did she knew what she was doing. She would make this fudge recipe every year at Christmas to give to the neighbors. Actually she made this throughout the year, but I really remember the Fudge at Christmas time. It was something that I looked forward to. I love chocolate and this fudge is smooth, creamy and oh so yummy!
Fudge
3 C sugar
1 Can evaporated milk
1/4 tsp salt
3 TBSP good dutch processed cocoa
1 Cube butter – use real butter!
1 capful of vanilla extract OR 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/2 – 1 C of chopped nuts – whatever your favorite kind are – I love walnuts, pecans or almonds.
Mix cocoa, sugar, salt and vanilla powder (not the extract) together until well combined – should be uniform in color, in a saucepan. Add canned milk. Turn heat on medium low. Stir until all ingredients come together and begin to simmer. Continue cooking until you reach the soft ball stage on candy thermometer. Make sure you scrape the sides while cooking.
Fill sink with ice cold water. When the fudge reaches the soft ball stage remove from stove and put immediately into the ice water – DO NOT GET ANY WATER IN THE PAN – RUINS THE FUDGE. Do not stir after this point. Put the cube of butter on top and let melt – do not stir.
Once the fudge is cooled – about 20 minutes or so. Take out of ice bath and begin stirring by hand. You’re going to need some major muscles.You are going to stir until it loses it glossy shine. It’s hard to say exactly how long it takes, but it happens you just have to watch for it. Here you would add the vanilla extract and stir until combined.
Pour immediately into a well greased 8X8 pan. Let cool, cut and enjoy. You can freeze the fudge so you don’t eat all of it at once – just cut into the size you’d like and then wrap in wax paper and then saran wrap.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. It totally reminds me of my mom. I remember cooking this with her. Learning that you must not get any water in the pan – it seriously ruins all your hard work. It’s a totally bummer, trust me I know. We would each take turns stirring. It seemed to take hours, I’m sure it doesn’t, but it felt that way as a child. I loved it with the nuts. It seemed to just melt in your mouth. I loved how creamy and smooth it felt. Sometimes before the fudge completely cooled, my mom would scoop out a small amount for us to eat. We would pull out vanilla ice cream and pour the hot fudge over the top. So good. Sometime we would just eat it straight out of the pan while it was all liquidy. So many fun memories with my mom and this recipe. I hope you’ll try it out! Let me know how it goes.
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